HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 21: SHADOWS
The Galaxy is a place fraught with peril and danger. During times of peace, the Turanic Raiders raided ships and blackmailed colonies. During times of war, the Taiidan Empire used military emergency as an excuse for their deeds of atrocity in forcing compliance with their reign.
However, chaotic times such as these only serve to throw everything into a harsh darkness. When order fails and civilisations struggle for survival, the greatest danger comes from somewhere else. Not the Turanic Raiders, not the Imperials, not even the Vaygr.
These times belong to the opportunists.
The ships moved silently through the Void, approaching their prey stealthily. For eons they had been forced to hide behind the barrier surrounding the Southern Fringe, hoping for a time when they might rise up to the occasion and take their rightful place as the rulers.
In ancient times, their homeworld burned under the onslaught of a powerful fleet. The few survivors that managed to escape were pursued relentlessly by the murderers. They were insistent on completing their genocide.
The fleet was eventually driven to a corner. Before them was the hyperspace wall of the Southern Fringe, and behind them their conquerors. As the enemy materialised behind them, the commander looked desperately for a sign.
He saw the emerald light.
The light from that star had caught his attention. It seemed to seduce him and capture his consciousness. As more looked to the light, more were enthralled even as their ships were picked off one by one from the rear.
The dazzle lasted for mere minutes, then vanished as abruptly as it had erupted out of the Void. Empowered by the vision, the survivors made a final jump towards where the light had been.
What happened next, no one really knew. Some said that they had jumped through a gap in the wall by sheer chance. Others said that the Gods took pity on the survivors, and let them through to the Paradise beyond.
And now, they would seek revenge on the Galaxy that had been so hostile towards them.
They would start with the intruders.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, the Southern Fringe:
Yuno checked the sensor feeds and saw the shuttle land safely in the hangar bay. She heaved a sigh of relief as Kro Manaan stepped out in one piece. These days, shuttle transport was getting dangerous thanks to the random appearance of unexpected enemies.
No one can predict the future, Yuno thought.
She went back to the boring repetition of running tests on the Mothership's systems. The repairs were progressing well with hull integrity restored to 80, and many critical ship systems had been brought up to optimum operational capability.
In spite of all their efforts of self-preservation, a tragedy had still occurred. Although the T-MAT assault did not manage to break through the cryogenic subsection bulkheads, the ionic fallout had knocked out a few vital support systems. The repair crews were not able to repair them in time.
Death toll: 200 000.
The loss of a tenth of their existence did not go well with the fleet. Even after the Keeper threat had been neutralised, there was still a faint hope that the repairs could save the affected cryogenic units. But now…
The Exodus fleet's battered morale was pulled up only by virtue of the fact that they were in possession of the Koshiir Ra. Many crews who had lost relatives and family in the cryogenic failure now tried to drown their sorrows in work, volunteering for the Koshiir Ra project.
Yuno checked the long range sensors and thought that there was a mistake of some sort – hyperspace signatures were emerging on the outskirts of the asteroid field where the mining ships were. She checked the sensors again but found nothing. Nevertheless, she opened communications with the Kuun Lan and Faal Corum, asking their commanders to be more cautious.
Onboard the Kuun Lan, the Southern Fringe:
Commander Inya Somtaaw received Yuno's warning and took appropriate action. Acolyte IIs were launched to escort the Workers, and fleet status was upgraded to yellow alert. Meanwhile, the Dervish II frigates and Gospel heavy dreadnoughts began scanning for targets. When all the procedures were done, Inya opened communications with the Faal Corum.
"Eeraac, did you receive the message too?" Inya enquired.
"I sure did, yet we're not picking up any enemy ships on our sensors, replied Eraac Somtaaw, commander of the Faal Corum, How about your side?"
"Nothing here either, I'm starting to think it was a false alarm on Yuno's part," Inya commented, "Maybe those deaths are getting to her or something."
"Can't blame her. I mean, taking responsibility for all those deaths… you know, I feel horrible whenever I lose anyone out here. The hard part's getting the message to the families involved, and that's a small number compared with… bzzzkt!"
The signal jamming came abruptly and Inya wasted no time putting the fleet on red alert.
"Sajuuk be damned, sensors report!"
"We can't trace the source of the signal, it appears to be a combination of frequencies beamed from separate and randomly changing locations," the officer replied frantically, "Picking up energy spikes in the surrounding space…"
The Kuun Lan vibrated slightly as weapons fire began impacting its hull. Inya gripped a console for support and glanced around at the viewscreens. He saw plasma bolts and ion beams coming out from nowhere and knew immediately what was going on.
"Great, they're cloaked. Hangar bay, drop Sentinels and begin proximity scans immediately!"
"Roger that Commander."
Seconds later, the Sentinel microships launched from their docking bays and raced out into space. With advances and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence development, there was no longer a need to assign pilots to this fragile vessel. As such, the extra space freed up could now be used for other instruments and systems, making the Sentinel Mark 3 one of the most versatile ships in the Somtaaw arsenal.
From each Sentinel popped a small scanning array as the squadron of 12 ships began checking for cloaked vessels. To Inya's horror, they brought up negative results.
"Commander, proximity scanning failed! They're probably using cloaking technology that's beyond our means of detection!"
"Then we'll have to use the old way," Inya replied, "Start calculating the ships' positions from their weaponry trajectories and transmit all coordinate data to the rest of the fleet. Meanwhile, deploy Sentinel Shield around the ship."
The data was transmitted and the Somtaaw fleet unleashed a flurry of firepower at their invisible enemies. The Dervish IIs let loose their tracking ion beams while the Gospels fired off their ion turrets and pulse cannons. There was no way for them to use the missiles as there was nothing to lock onto.
As the ion beams and energy bolts hit their targets, several ships began emerging from cloak. Explosions began to light up around the Kuun Lan and more of the enemy vessels lost their cloaking abilities. Then, a glowing sphere of red light surrounded the Kuun Lan as the Sentinels activated their force field generators.
"Commander, most of the uncloaked enemy ships are of the frigate class," described the sensors officer, "They are similar in design to the ion cannon frigate, but are equipped with plasma turrets to handle flanking manoeuvres."
"I see. What's the word on the Faal Corum?"
"Long range sensors indicate the Faal Corum is under attack by a similar fleet. They appear to be having no more trouble than we are. Our Workers have also managed to dock, and the Acolytes are joining the battle."
"Very well. Keep up the assault until all hostiles are destroyed. Since we cannot hope to call for reinforcements from the rest of the fleet, we'll have to ride this one out on our own. Weapons officer, add our firepower into the equation at once."
Now the Somtaaw mining vessel began firing its heavy pulse cannons, ripping into the decloaked and cloaked ships alike. The presence of the Sentinel Shield meant that there was no way the enemy firepower could come through, or so they thought.
A destroyer-class vessel decloaked in front of the Kuun Lan. It definitely did not look like the standard destroyer design used by many galactic civilisations. Instead, it appeared to be an extra-large ion frigate, with its entire hull wrapped round a nasty-looking weapon.
"What in Kharak's name is that?" Inya exclaimed.
"Unknown design, it doesn't match with any of the ship profiles we have here… emergency alert! Energy spike detected!"
With that, the destroyer fired. A pulse rippled through space, distorting the light that shone through it. Moments later, the pulse passed harmlessly through the shield and impacted the Kuun Lan's hangar module, shattering the front portion of it and leaving a huge crater on the module. The impact shook the entire ship violently.
"Damage report!" Inya yelled amidst flickering lights and malfunctioning terminals.
"Hangar module is venting to space, module integrity at 60 percent. We've lost frigate and capital ship building capability!"
"Engineering, what the hell could that thing be?"
Judging from what it did to the Hangar module, our best guess is that it's a gravity weapon of some sort. That ship is using pulses of artificial gravity to inflict damage.
"Then it's definitely too much for us. Kuun Lan to fleet, disengage and fall back. Helm, set a course for the Legacy and take us to hyperspace ASAP!"
"I'm afraid that's not possible," came the reply, "That gravity shock has destabilised the space time continuum in the region. Until the ripples subside, we can't make a jump!"
"Dammit! All ships, focus fire on the destroyer!"
With that, the Gospels and Dervish IIs turned to bring their weapons to bear on the destroyer. The enemy ship vaporised quickly under the firestorm, but five more destroyers decloaked in a sphere formation around the Kuun Lan. In a desperate attempt to buy more time, the heavy dreadnoughts activated their repulsors to knock the destroyers away, bringing the Kuun Lan out of their lines of fire. But that would only give them mere seconds, for the destroyers immediately began re-manoeuvring to aim at the mining ship.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak:
Yuno picked up the unfolding battle on the long range sensors and was alarmed by the sudden assault. Wasting no time, she quickly broadcasted the emergency alert to the fleet. Checking the Grand Core, Yuno was relieved to find that it had built up sufficient energy for the jump.
With that, the Grand Core powered up and pulled the fleet into hyperspace, bringing them back to realspace seconds later. The attacking force was alarmed by the sudden addition of three fully-equipped fleets and ceased their assaults, returning to the safety of their cloaks.
"Yuno to Kuun Lan, are you alright?"
"Inya of the Kuun Lan here, we're alright save for a bruise to the Hangar module."
"Good to hear that. Prepare for another micro jump!"
A few more seconds passed before the gathered Exodus fleet warped into realspace behind the Faal Corum and its fleet. The attackers responded similarly, halting fire and disappearing behind their cloaking fields. Yuno instinctively checked the proximity detectors, but found nothing. As if on cue, Eefrit's voice came in over a comm channel.
"What's the status on things out there, Yuno?"
"Tactically, not exactly ideal, she replied with a sigh, Our proximity sensors are unable to defeat their cloaking fields."
"Great, so are we going to just sit here and wait for them to fire again?"
"I'm not sure. For one thing, it was not even advisable to pull the Koshiir Ra into hyperspace when we understand so little about it. Such hasty measures may very well compromise crucial systems onboard the Koshiir Ra."
"Well, things here are fine. There's been no fallout from those tactical jumps. Meanwhile, Kiir thinks he's getting warm regarding the location of the ship's bridge section."
"Then tell Kiir to make haste. We need to get the Koshiir Ra up and running as quickly as possible."
It was then that the aggressors decided to decloak and fire upon the Hiigaran fleet. Their numbers were greater now – they had evidently hyperspaced their fleet together so as to present a combined front against the gathered Exodus fleet. Thanks to Inya and Eeraac's targeting methods, the Hiigarans were able to respond with precision strikes. Ships were knocked out of cloak and pulled into plain view of the Exodus fleet.
Ion beams, mass drivers and energy bolts were flung madly within the battle. The attackers' ships seemed to have lighter armour than their Hiigaran counterparts, but compensated with additional offense capabilities. The outcome was uncertain until the destroyers dropped their cloaking fields. A dozen gravity destroyers now manoeuvred to bring the Legacy into their line of fire.
"A smart guess of theirs - they are aiming immediately for the flagship," noted Yuno, "They probably detected the quantum wave effect when the Grand Core activated."
The destroyers released their lethal pulses of gravity which hurtled quickly towards the Mothership. At the last moment, the space around the Legacy shimmered as the distortion field sprang up. The pulses smashed into the distorted fabric of space and caused shockwaves to reverberate through the field. Had the power source been a standard hyperspace module, the stress would have overloaded the module and destroyed the ship in the resulting quantum cascade reaction. However, the assault was a mere pinprick to what the Grand Core could handle.
"Thank Sajuuk for Kiir's algorithm," Yuno muttered, "Yuno to fleet, the Legacy is protected. Focus fire on the hostile vessels."
As the order went out and the Hiigaran fleet stepped up the assault, Yuno dove into the archives with the hope of finding something on this new enemy. A quick search yielded nothing, with no matching ship profiles from all the ships ever encountered since the Homeworld War.
Yuno decided to try a different approach, accessing the historical archives. Recording a detailed history of the Galaxy since the First Time, this treasure trove was a gift of gratitude from the Bentusi for the Hiigaran campaign to exterminate the Beast. The computer searched through the mass of files and returned with a close match. Wasting no time, Yuno opened the file and scanned through the words quickly.
"… The Tobari civilisation was a casualty of the Uprising, a terrible conflict that engulfed the entire Galaxy. In this war, there were two main powers seeking to rule the Galaxy – the Kushan and the Taiidan. While the Kushan focused their efforts on dominating the Inner Rim and Core regions, the Taiidan chose to conquer the Outer Rim and attempted to control the Outer Rim Trade Routes.
The Taiidan fleet was refused entry into Tobari space as the Tobari were a peaceful people. In response, they invaded mercilessly, destroying any and all Tobari assets along the way. When Bentus arrived to assist, the Tobari homeworld of Toba had already fallen victim to the prototype atmosphere deprivation weapon.
Bentus was able to track the survivors down to the outskirts of the Southern Fringe. Unfortunately, the Taiidan managed to slow down the Bentusi task force with strategically placed hyperspace inhibitors. By the time the task force was able to fight its way through the Imperial fleets, the Tobari survivors were gone. They had supposedly committed a desperate escape attempt by jumping straight into the Southern Fringe. Knowing the ultimate fate of ships that tried to defy the Hyperspace Wall, the Bentusi fleet was forced to withdraw with heavy hearts…"
Yuno was shocked upon reading the historical article. Having experienced an act of genocide on the same scale as the Burning of Kharak, the Tobari were definitely to be pitied. With this new knowledge, Yuno now tried to establish contact with the aggressors.
"Attention Tobari fleet, this is Yuno of the Hiigaran Exodus fleet. The Taiidan Empire that destroyed your homeworld is no more, and the Galaxy is now a different place from those times of old," Yuno considered describing the current galactic situation as "peaceful and prosperous," but thought otherwise. "We mean you no harm. All we ask is that your fleet stands down immediately, and we shall do the same."
The broadcasted signal echoed through the communications systems of every ship within a five light year radius. As if to acknowledge the transmission, the Tobari vessels halted their attacks and vanished into cloak yet again. In return, the Hiigaran fleet powered down their weapons as well.
Yuno was relieved that she had managed to get through to them, but remained cautious. After all, she was now treading on thin ice. She definitely did not want to offend them accidentally in some way or other.
"Tobari fleet, we thank you for your compliance. Let there be peace between our races…"
"So, the Taiidan Empire is no more?" came the abrupt reply. The voice was deep and emotionless.
"Well, yes. I mean, pockets of it still remain, but they are no longer the powerful force of old."
"What led to their demise? Was it the Bentusi?"
"Erm, not exactly…" Yuno struggled to keep up the conversation. They had, after all, been out of touch with galactic affairs for several thousand years, "You see, we are descendents of the Kushan Empire, and that fell under the onslaught of the Taiidan."
"Thanks to the intervention of the Bentusi, our surviving ancestors were sent into Exile. We spent 4000 years on the planet Kharak, towards the Western Fringe of the Galaxy, before we re-discovered our origins. Sadly, our first hyperdrive test led to a terrible fate…"
"… Kharak burned?"
"… The Taiidani claimed we broke some sort of treaty. And so..." Yuno struggled to keep the emotion out of her voice as she recalled the history lessons in her younger days, "… Yes, Kharak burned."
"… You have our sympathies."
"We thank you for that. As a result of Kharak's destruction, we were forced to return to our homeworld Hiigara, whatever the cost. In doing so, we destroyed the Emperor's flagship over Hiigara and ended the Empire's reign."
"… It is a curious story, and we are pleased to hear of the outcome. What then brings you to the Southern Fringe? Has the Galaxy forsaken your race as well?"
"Well, we came here for the purpose of finding the one weapon that would help save the Galaxy. You see, the Galaxy is now under attack by an ancient race known as…"
"… The Progenitors, we presume?"
"So you know?" Yuno exclaimed.
"Our fleets have encountered ships of their make and design. Dangerous vessels they were, one of their so-called Keepers has the power to destroy a carrier task force. So we understand the power that's involved, and we shall use it."
"… I beg your pardon?" Yuno enquired, spooked by that last phrase. Sensing something wrong, she quickly checked the sensors.
Her worst fears were confirmed. Tobari boarding vessels now decloaked all around them, some of them already latched onto the Koshiir Ra, motherships and command ships. Internal sensors began registering gunfire as Marines struggled to stop the Tobari invaders from taking over. Having made their point, the Tobari cut the transmission.
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk:
Captain Soban raced through the ship with a few Marines. When the Tobari boarding vessel had decloaked, latched onto the Dreadnaught's hull, Engineering had activated the shields as a defensive measure. Now that the boarding ship was sliced to pieces, the task of eliminating the boarders remained.
The group neared the sealed off bulkhead and prepared for battle. The Marines gathered around the blast doors with weapons hot while Soban punched a password into the door console. The console beeped and the doors groaned, sliding open slowly. Soban quickly moved to join the rest of the Marines and aimed his autocannon at the widening gap.
The Tobari lunged forth and were cut down quickly by the Marines and Captain Soban. A few of the boarders stayed back and fired off their plasma rifles, sending bolts of supercharged energy towards the Hiigaran group. Soban barely dodged a shot but another Marine took the full brunt of it in the abdomen. He screamed and collapsed in agony, clutching his ruined stomach. Soban yelled at the intercom for medical assistance while unleashing more metal slugs at the boarders.
When the Tobari brought out a large shoulder-mounted cannon, Captain Soban knew it was time to run. He yelled at everybody to fall back then quickly set the doors to close. The injured Hiigaran group retreated from the blast doors moments before the plasma bolt smashed through. With a clear shot of the defenders, the Tobari boarders fired off their rifles again. Soban knew there would be no escape this time.
When he opened his eyes seconds later to find himself in one piece, Soban realised that some sort of barrier had sprung up around the boarding party. The Tobari were incensed and tried to break through, pumping plasma bolts into the barrier in vain.
"I've got to thank Engineering for that localised quantum distortion," Soban uttered, "People, get the wounded to safety. Engineering, you there?"
"Engineering here, we've got the boarders where you want them. What's next?" came the voice from Soban's wrist transmitter.
"Good job with that containment bubble. Flood it with knock-out gas so we can interrogate them later."
"Consider it done."
A vent in the ceiling opened up and began pouring gas into the containment bubble. The potent chemical knocked the boarders out within moments and was quickly dispersed by the cleanup systems. The barrier went down and Soban walked up to the unconscious boarders.
"You people definitely messed with the wrong ship."
As if echoing his thoughts, the Phased Cannon Array ripped through a bunch of gravity destroyers with ease.
Onboard the Koshiir Ra:
Kiir Sjet ran down the corridor, checking his locator constantly for updates. The Tobari had managed to get onboard the ship either by forcing their way through the hangar or drilling through weak points in the hull. Now the red dots representing the Tobari boarders outnumbered friendlies by at least three to one.
But Kiir also knew that the bridge was somewhere close. For some reason he couldn't explain, he could "feel" the approximate location of the Koshiir Ra's bridge. Kiir quickened his pace, racing towards that mysterious location, the feeling getting stronger with each step.
The locator warbled as it suddenly picked up five boarders heading in his direction. Kiir raced ahead to the corridor junction and saw the Tobari, who were unsurprised by Kiir and proceeded to fire their plasma rifles at him. Kiir yelped and dodged them quickly, using his telekinesis to enhance his agility. The boarders were dumbfounded and fired desperately, only to have their shots either evaded or deflected by Kiir's telekinetic barrier.
He went in close and knocked the boarders off their feet with a burst of telekinetic energy. Before they could regain themselves, a quick telepathic burst knocked the Tobari unconscious. Kiir wobbled a bit at the sudden exertion but recovered quickly and resumed running.
"Whew, it really does get easier the more I do this," he muttered, wiping a drop of sweat off his face.
The scientist raced faster and turned a corner, stopping in front of a thick steel door. He placed his hand on the door console and concentrated briefly. When Kiir opened his eyes, the door slid open, revealing a large open area with many terminals and command consoles.
He had found the bridge section.
Onboard the Paaura:
Chaos reigned onboard the Somtaaw command ship as General Qwaar tried to coordinate both the fleet assaults and internal security operations. A great number of boarding frigates had locked onto the Paaura and the boarders had pushed all the way to the auxiliary resource centre. Now the defending Marines worked hard to seal every door between the bridge and the advancing invaders.
General Qwaar checked the internal sensors and saw disturbing news. The boarders had gathered in a large group some three sections away, meaning only four heavy doors stood between them and the bridge. He saw several Marines approaching the boarding party from the rear section, but their numbers were far too small to mount an effective offensive. Thinking quickly, Qwaar ordered for the Marines to retreat to the nearest shielded section. He then turned to the intercom.
"Engineering, stand by for Naar… or in this case, Tobari Directive."
"Standing by to vent plasma. Where do you want it?"
"Section A4," Qwaar responded as he saw the last of the Marines move to safety, "Roast them."
"Roger, venting plasma now…"
The Paaura shuddered slightly as drive plasma was diverted through the plasma vents to its destination. Moments later, hissing sounds and pained shrieks filled the bridge, reminding Qwaar to switch off the audio receivers. The screams were cut off and Qwaar returned to the task at hand.
"What are all of you waiting for," the general barked, "There's still a battle to win!"
Imperial Hive, Nalthoran Capital City:
"My Queen, I bring word from the expedition," reported the messenger, "The mission is a success, and the Sajuuk is ours."
"Excellent, that is probably one of the better news I'm hearing of late," Queen Dosis commented as she stood up from her throne, "What about the Sajuuk-Khar?"
"We have captured Karan Sjet alive, and she requests an audience with Your Majesty."
"An audience? That is most interesting… how long will it be before the expedition returns?"
"The fleet is in hyperspace transit even as we speak, and we expect them to arrive in nine hours."
"I see… very well then. Tell the Sjet that I will see her during the Royal Banquet. I suppose she has her reasons for this strange request…" Dosis admired a vase of exquisite Nalthoran roses as she pondered what Karan was up to, "That is all then. You are dismissed!"
"I take my leave, Your Majesty," the messenger replied, bowing out before her.
Queen Dosis returned to her throne and sat down slowly, still thinking about the consequences of such a meeting. She waved a hand and an attendant came to her side.
"Bring me the Exchange Unit, I wish to have a discussion with the T-MAT."
"As you wish," said the attendant.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak:
Yuno was sick to her stomach when she accessed the video cameras. Tobari soldiers were swarming onboard and laying waste to any life they came across. Be it fully armed Hiigaran Marines or defenceless engineers, they killed them nonetheless.
She checked the overall situation and things seemed very bad – the boarders had almost reached the main computer hub, the heart of the Legacy. If they got in there, her existence would most definitely be compromised. Worse yet, the Tobari were edging closer to the cryogenic subsections, and heaven knows what they would do in there.
And yet, there was nothing she could do. She had activated every defence system available, internal or external. Pulsar turrets dissuaded more boarding frigates from docking on while laser cannons brought down as many Tobari as they could before being destroyed themselves.
Yuno considered her options, then remembered her one last trump card – the Grand Core. During the T-MAT attack, Kiir had done something with the Grand Core to spirit the T-MAT fleet away. Perhaps she could do the same, she reasoned.
After a quick consultation with the internal sensors, Yuno was relieved to find that the Core Containment Unit was still untouched by the invaders. Wasting no time, she accessed the Hyperspace NAV systems and began microtargeting. As Yuno was about to engage the system, she paused to think about the atrocity she was about to commit. Then she saw the Tobari relentlessly slaughtering everyone they could see onboard and thought otherwise.
Yuno ended her hesitation and began the procedure. Entire contingents vanished from sight and emerged from hyperspace in the cold hard vacuum of outer space. She personally hoped that the shock of hyperspace transit had killed them, since death in vacuum was very unpleasant. It only took a few minutes for the Legacy to be cleared of all Tobari boarders.
With the boarding situation under control, Yuno turned her focus to the other frigates still trying to latch onto the Mothership. She was amazed by the sheer numbers the Tobari had, but reminded herself that they were no match for Progenitor technology. Yuno began pulling ship after ship into hyperspace, sending them into the heart of the Hyperspace Wall behind them. There, they would be trapped for all eternity with no hope of escape.
The Tobari were unafraid, for Yuno could only deal with the decloaked boarding frigates. Hence, they kept up their assault on the Exodus fleet, trying to bring down as many critical ships as they could. A carrier detonated under the intense firepower, and Yuno murmured a silent prayer for the Hiigarans who had lost their lives.
Still, they were at a disadvantage. The Tobari were learning quickly as to how their ships were being tracked. Hence, they began firing and moving at the same time to avoid hits by the Hiigaran ships tracking their fire trajectories.
Yuno was contemplating an emergency hyperspace jump when Kiir's voice came in through one of the communications channels.
"Yuno, I found the bridge section! I just managed to get into the Koshiir Ra's systems and the place is huge!"
"Kiir? You're in? You have control of the Koshiir Ra?"
"Not really, there's just so many things in here I'm not sure where to start…"
"Alright, just relax Kiir. Start searching for any kind of proximity detection system, we need to be able to see the Tobari if we're going to attack them."
"Got it, searching for "proximity sensors," "anti-cloaking sensors" and "proximity detectors…""
"And hurry up with that, we can't withstand this for much longer!" Yuno urged as she saw a battlecruiser succumb to the Tobari onslaught.
Yuno waited and tried to refine the weapons trajectory calculations, but it was no use. The Tobari were moving their ships with less speed but more agility now as they diverted power to thrusters. How could they possibly win against an invisible enemy?
A Somtaaw heavy dreadnought shattered in a brilliant explosion and Yuno decided that they had had enough. Just as she was about to broadcast the emergency hyperspace announcement, the sensors screen lit up with coordinate data of the Tobari ships.
"Kiir here, I found the proximity sensor system. Uploading sensor data to fleet now…"
"Great job Kiir! Alright then, Yuno to fleet, engage and destroy all hostiles. The Tobari must be eliminated!"
The Exodus fleet, now no longer blind, began firing with pinpoint accuracy on the revealed Tobari ship locations. Explosions occurred out of nothingness as the ships blew up with their cloaking fields still on. The Tobari knew that they were defeated, and quickly escaped to hyperspace. As the last Tobari ship signature vanished from sensor view, everyone in the fleet heaved a sigh of relief.
It was at this moment that Yuno suddenly picked up an incoming transmission on the communications network. She patched it through and gasped when she heard the voice.
"Yuno? What's going on there? Hello?" Kiir asked, alarmed by Yuno's sudden gasp.
… It's… it's Karan… Yuno uttered with mixed feelings.